Fortunately, like a good interface, it is immediately and clearly obvious what the function of the article is.
I think it's safe to say that any mechanical engineers that may have read this article were smart enough to realise that the target audience wasn't them.
>it is immediately and clearly obvious what the function of the article is.
Not really - I am a mechanical engineer (by degree, acoustical by practice) who took the title at it's word and tried to see if author was trying to share an insight that could be applied to engineering in general. "Line things up" and "Design the white space" is something I could see an author trying to apply across disciplines (not that they did, but again, I was taking the title for what it was and tried to get something out of it).
It's when I got to "Use designer fonts" that I realized it was yet another article where the author used the term 'engineer" to refer to "software engineer."
True; your parent is just reacting to the pervasive habit software engineers seem to have, wherein they refer to themselves as if they are the only kind of engineers.
I think it's safe to say that any mechanical engineers that may have read this article were smart enough to realise that the target audience wasn't them.